Rohrscheib also suggests keeping your sleep zone far from the vents, because sudden temperature changes can make you too hot or too fresh during the night, which can increase “sleep fragmentation and agitation”.
Regarding electronics, experts say that you should consider to remove them completely from your room. This includes televisions, smartphones, tablets and laptops. “Your brain is very clever to form associations between environments and behaviors, which means that the way you use your room influences your ability to sleep well,” explains Rohrscheib. This is why sleep experts advise to abstain from working from the bed or expecting it all day. Your bed should be where you sleep and the more time you do with other things, the more your brain could start to associate it with something other than a dedicated sleeping place.
To put it more frank, Robins says: “Your room should be for two things – sex and sleep.” Rohrsheib adds: “Your brain is very skilful to form associations between environments and behaviors, which means that the way you use your room influences your ability to sleep well.” And the blue light emitted by screens such as smartphones removes melatonin production. Melatonin is responsible for regulating your waking cycle. Rohrsheib adds that “even passive exposure to notifications, vibrations or emergency lights from devices can increase vigilance and disturb your ability to fall and stay asleep.” Robins says that if you want to read before going to bed or you should use the toilet overnight, you should consider using a Red light pocket lamp.
Photography: Yiu Yu Hoi / Getty Images
Realisticly, I know that a lot of people (including me) will always use electronics before bed. Personally, I used to read the Kindle application on my phone before falling asleep. There are phone parameters that can alleviate the blue light emitted by your phone. On iOS, you can activate the night in your control center or the lights of the phone. This adds a yellow shade to your screen. On Android, go to your display settings and choose the night light. You can also lower the phone’s brightness even more by going to your accessibility settings (on iOS) and choosing to reduce the white point, and even more by selecting Zoom. This darkens your screen much more than the lowest brightness by default. On Android devices, go to your display settings, choose Advanced, then slide the lower white balance sheet to obtain a similar effect. For other devices (such as some electronic players), remember to lower the screen brightness and the heat level as much as possible to help reduce this sleeping blue light of sleep.
Regarding lighting, Kaylor advises “to obtain as much natural daylight as possible to strengthen the circadian rhythm”. She says you can alleviate the lights of your environment as it gets closer to bedtime to imitate sunset. It’s easy to make with smart lighting, smart bulbs and even smart awakenings, like the Hatch Restore 3 (8/10, Wired recommends), which is a sound machine and a sunrise alarm, all rolled in one.
Your circadian rhythm is based on environmental clues to report to your body when it’s time to get up or go to bed. Electronics can disrupt it, but they can also be useful if you configure lighting routines to help you with these clues. Natural daylight also plays a factor. “We want the room to be dark, cool and calm!” said Kaylor. Research indicates that something at the bottom of the 60s Fahrenheit is the ideal sleep temperature. She advises to minimize the noise, either with ear caps or a sound machine, and you should use breakfast curtains or a high quality eye mask to block the light. Robins adds that you should have breathable cotton or bamboo leaves, and that you may want to keep a weighted blanket at the end of the bed in case you are cool. If the weighted covers are too heavy or if you have trouble regulating your body temperature, a good duvet can also make a difference. I like it Buffy BreezeSince its eucalyptus fabric helps keep me cool during the summer and warm in winter.
Your general environment also plays a role. Kaylor advises you to keep your room stored and without congestion to reduce stress and improve the quality of sleep. Do you know how after doing a deep cleaning of your room – evacuating, washing the bedding, storing the clothes stacked on your chair – do you sleep like a baby? You can achieve this feeling all the time if you keep your room tidy. (The advice that I should take myself.) Robins also underlines that the addition of plants can help improve oxygen levels in your room (spider plants and snake plants are two low-maintenance interior plants that can help you) and suggest using neutral colors for paint, carpets and bedding.
Overall, your room should be a sanctuary. Keep the decor and the size occupied in other areas of the house, prepare for success and you will have more ease of sleeping high quality.
